


Birds, Bees, Squid

by SleepsWithCoyotes



Series: Gaidencraft [2]
Category: Saiyuki, Saiyuki Gaiden
Genre: Alternate Universe - Lovecraft Fusion, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-12
Updated: 2016-03-12
Packaged: 2018-05-26 07:15:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6228844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SleepsWithCoyotes/pseuds/SleepsWithCoyotes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Goku gets curious about Konzen's...age.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Birds, Bees, Squid

On the one hand, Goku quite liked Kanzeon Bosatsu's audience chamber; it was where he'd first met Konzen. On the other hand, it also scared him half to death. He'd never actually gone inside after that first time, just stood at the doorway and peeked in once or twice, and only when it was empty. Every time he looked in, he remembered seeing Konzen there like the sun standing up at midday, brilliant and beautiful. He'd taken one look at Konzen, and it was like something inside him woke up and gave him a push, saying: _There. You belong over there._ So over there he went, and the voice had been right; now he belonged.

But he remembered also those first awful minutes when he hadn't belonged, when he'd been standing there all alone. He'd felt the weight of every link of the chains that bound him, a horrible, cold heaviness that gathered not at his arms or legs but in the middle of his stomach as he faced down strange gods who looked at him like a _thing._

He wasn't a thing. He was a person, just like them, and Konzen had known it first. Konzen had named him, and then everybody else knew it too. He was Goku, and he was the equal of any god in Heaven where it counted. Inside.

Well. Maybe Konzen was a little more equal than most. Goku had to do what Konzen said, after all, because if he didn't or if he forgot, Konzen would get angry, and an angry Konzen wanted to be _all alone._ And Goku didn't want Konzen to be alone, because Konzen never had any fun when he was alone, and that was just too sad.

Konzen, however, had to do what his father's sibling said, because if he didn't, Kanzeon Bosatsu would tease him mercilessly, and make him tear his hair out, and smile at him until he started grinding his teeth even in his sleep. Goku wasn't certain what Kanzeon would be like if se ever got angry, but he was pretty sure it wouldn't be fun at all. He also suspected he wasn't quite the Bosatsu's equal either, but not because se thought he was an animal or a thing. He even thought se liked him a little bit, because sometimes se gave him snacks when se came by to pester Konzen.

That didn't mean he wanted to be banished to hir audience chamber, though. It was just that Konzen was working, and Goku had already broken a vase and torn a screen today, and apparently that weird stain on the wall wasn't going anywhere. And since he had to do what Konzen said, when Konzen roared, "Go bother the damn hag that sent you!" and pushed him out the door, Goku had to go. Eventually. But he did go.

He had a plan, though, and it was a good plan. All he had to do was sidle his way into the room, hang around _very_ quietly by the wall for a few minutes, and then he could leave again. He'd have done exactly what Konzen asked; Konzen hadn't said how _long_ he had to stay. And afterwards, maybe he could go see if Nataku was back from wherever he'd gone off to. There were still trees somewhere that needed climbing, and Goku still hadn't told Nataku his new name.

Always before the chamber had been empty, but this time Kanzeon was on hir throne when Goku peeked in, sitting with legs crossed, one bare foot swinging idly, hir strong-sharp chin resting on a casually propped fist. Tiny golden bangles on a thin chain chimed sweetly at hir ankle, a sound that reminded Goku of the Bosatsu's laughter. Kanzeon was always laughing, and Goku wondered sometimes what Konzen's real, from-the-gut laughter would sound like, if it would sound anything like the Bosatsu's.

Probably not. Konzen's laughter would probably sound even better.

Thinking about Konzen turned out to be a mistake. It distracted him from his plan, which kept him standing there stupidly just the littlest bit too long, and by then Kanzeon was staring straight at him. Goku thought about running, but Konzen had been teaching him about manners--mainly by pointing at Kenren and saying, "Don't do that"--and running would be rude.

Kanzeon was smiling, but it wasn't one of the ones that drove Konzen crazy, at least. When se crooked a finger at him, he dragged his feet only a little, slouching over to stand before hir throne where he eyed hir through the ragged curtain of his hair.

"Well, now. What brings you to see me, kiddo?"

Straightening his shoulders, Goku screwed up his face and recited from memory, though he sounded a lot less certain of himself than Konzen had. "Konzen Douji-sama sends his regards to the Blessed Kanzeon Bosatsu, and don't break anything."

One corner of the Bosatsu's mouth quirked up sharply, and Goku felt a tense, unhappy knot in his stomach dissolve in a burst under the lightness of hir regard. "Don't break anything, huh? Do you suppose he meant you or me?"

"Um. Probably me," Goku said after a moment of thinking it over. "It's okay if you break your own stuff, isn't it? Konzen does it all the time when he gets mad."

" _Does_ he, now?" Kanzeon asked, sounding surprised and pleased, which made no sense, because if anyone should know how Konzen was, it should be Kanzeon, right?

Se just sat there grinning to hirself, and this time it _was_ the smile that drove Konzen crazy, but what Konzen didn't see couldn't hurt him.

Goku smiled nervously when Kanzeon's eyes sharpened abruptly on him, but se just jerked hir chin to the left and said, "C'mere."

Goku went where he was told, but he felt kind of silly standing at the Bosatsu's left hand like a page or a cupbearer. Since there didn't seem to be any rule against it, he scrambled up instead to perch on the arm of hir throne, and the Bosatsu just scooted over a bit and propped hir cheek on hir right fist instead.

"So," se said, nodding at the now-empty chamber, but somehow at all of Heaven at the same time. "How do you like it here?"

"It's okay," he said, straddling the arm of the throne like a horse's back, leaning his weight on his hands and kicking his feet in the air. Realizing that the Bosatsu might get the wrong idea, he quickly added, "Living with Konzen is great. I mean, he yells a lot, and sometimes he throws things, but he's...he's _Konzen._ You know?"

"Yeah," Kanzeon said with a grin. "But don't tell him I said so. He'd just get uppity."

Goku tried to imagine Konzen uppity and failed. The guards that surrounded the Emperor--now _they_ were uppity. Konzen was just quietly perfect, something you wanted but weren't allowed to touch. Not ever. Though Konzen touched Goku sometimes, ruffling his hair or smacking him on the head with rolled-up documents Konzen was supposed to be stamping. Maybe you had to care before you could be uppity, and if Konzen was good at being untouchable, he was also very good at not reaching for anything himself.

That was another reason why Goku didn't like leaving Konzen alone. Konzen forgot how to touch things, and that was even sadder than forgetting how to have fun.

"But you've made other friends too, haven't you?"

"Yeah!" Goku said, brightening at once. "I met Nataku just the other day--he's a kid like me, and he's going to show me the best places to climb. And then there's Tenpou--he's got some really great trees outside his office--and Kenren, who got sent here because he's a pervert and he likes to fight. I'm not sure what a pervert is," Goku admitted honestly when the Bosatsu clapped a hand over hir mouth, "but it must be good, because Tenpou thinks Kenren's a great general, and all generals like to fight, right?"

Kanzeon nodded fiercely with hir hand still covering hir mouth, making little sputtering noises. The sound was so familiar it made Goku sigh.

"They're acting all weird, though," he mumbled, shoulders slumping dejectedly as he stared at the floor. "Kenren keeps talking about squid, and that makes Tenpou get all twitchy, and Konzen just rolls his eyes at them and mutters about acting your age. But I don't _get_ it. Konzen tried to tell me, but it didn't make a whole lot of sense."

"What exactly did my idiot nephew say?" Kanzeon asked, watching him with a sort of vague alarm that still managed to look almost impressed. "We're not talking about the facts of life, here, are we?"

"Huh? Oh, Tenpou told me about that. He tried to get Kenren to do it, but then Kenren remembered he had a really important meeting and ran away. Konzen told me that was rude, but Tenpou said it was okay, he didn't mind."

"I'll just bet," Kanzeon muttered, snickering under hir breath. "So? What's got you confused then, kiddo?"

"Konzen was telling me about gods," Goku said, casting a hopeful look sidelong at the Bosatsu. "He said that there were gods, old gods, and _really_ old gods, and that it wasn't polite to ask a god what he looks like at home. He also said that I couldn't go over to Tenpou's without letting Tenpou know I was coming, because he didn't want me to get nightmares and keep him awake. But see, that's what I don't get--because I know Kenren's younger than Tenpou, but Konzen's older than Kenren, and I've seen Konzen at home. He just looks like he always does, only sometimes with less clothes."

Goku didn't quite catch what Kanzeon muttered this time, but it sounded an awful lot like: "Lucky monkey."

Watching the Bosatsu expectantly, he waited for hir to stifle hir snickers and catch hir breath. "Well," se said at last, "it's true that the Elder--er, _really old_ gods look a bit...different than what you might expect."

"But you're a Bosatsu--doesn't that mean you used to be human?"

The Bosatsu smiled. "The 'used to be' is what gets all the mileage."

"But since Konzen's your nephew, doesn't that mean he's part human too?"

"Well, it's more like...spiritual nephewdom. You know he's the son of the Tathagata, right?"

"Yeah," Goku said, hunching one shoulder.

"Have you ever _seen_ the Tathagata?"

Goku thought about it. "No?"

Kanzeon smirked. "Neither has anyone else. Konzen takes after his mother, thankfully. Lovely woman. A bit of a maneater, but everybody needs hobbies."

Cocking his head to the side, Goku considered that with a frown. He'd already known who Konzen's father was, of course; he'd heard some of the other gods talk about it when they hadn't known he was there, and the hushed voices had made him feel a little weird inside. Proud, because Konzen was obviously someone important and deserved to have an important family...but angry, too, because there had been something about those whispers he hadn't liked. It reminded him of the way some gods still talked at him like he was a thing, not a person, and Konzen wasn't a _thing._ He still felt bad for not going over and kicking those stupid gods in the shins, but he would next time. Next time for sure.

Still, he hadn't known that the Tathagata was something that couldn't be seen. That must have made it lonely for Konzen growing up, and Goku wondered now whether some of those times when Konzen could be found muttering to himself were actually Konzen talking to his invisible father. They must have a very good relationship if that were true for the Tathagata to let his son swear at him like that.

About Konzen's mother he'd never heard a word. It was almost like she'd never existed. He realized now that he'd been thinking that Konzen had been born from the Tathagata just like Goku had been born from the mountain, which he guessed was just silly. Gods didn't work that way, just heretics like him.

It was thinking about Konzen's mother that brought him back to his original worry.

"Wait--then if he isn't just some super-Enlightened guy, does that mean Konzen has another shape?" he asked, chewing on his lip as he waited for the Bosatsu's answer.

"Yep," se said, arching a brow at him. "Why?"

"Nothing--no reason--I just...I really want to see it," he said, barely managing not to whine. It wasn't fair, though. Kenren got to see what Tenpou looked like, and Konzen had obviously already known, and he'd bet anything that Tenpou had seen _Konzen,_ and no one wanted to show Goku _anything._ It was like the three of them had some huge secret they were leaving him out of on purpose.

"Hmm...well, it seems a bit involuntary for him, kiddo, and I don't think you're old enough yet to get him worked up enough to show you."

"You're wrong there," Goku said with a weak smile. "I get Konzen worked up all the _time._ Last time I messed up his desk, he threatened to hang me by my heels over the edge of Heaven and let the dragons use me for target practice. I said I was sorry," he added with a hurt sniff. "I didn't realize Heavenly birds were as messy as the ones where I come from, and there were only the three...."

Kanzeon threw back hir head and laughed, and then se reached out to ruffle his hair the way Konzen did, pushing on his head a little until he ducked and grinned. It felt nice, but not as nice as when Konzen did it. "You're pretty good for him, you know that?" se said, smiling still.

"Really?" he asked, looking up hopefully. From the corner of his vision, he caught a glimpse of Jiroushin coming through the inner door in a flurry, tugging his robes straight and muttering apologies for oversleeping, but Goku only had eyes for the Bosatsu.

"Yeah," se said, and he didn't really think the Bosatsu could lie--shade the truth a little, maybe, but it didn't look like se was trying to trick him. Se looked like se really believed it, and that made him grin until his face hurt.

"Great! So I--oh, hey. Is it rude to ask a Bosatsu what you look like at home?"

"Hmph. People who find things rude are usually repressed. Never mind," se interrupted hirself when se saw his puzzled look. "Why don't I just show you?"

_"Bosatsu!"_ Jiroushin gasped, scandalized. "You can't do that--he's just a boy!"

Kanzeon sighed and gave Goku a commiserating smile. "See what I mean? Oh well, go on, then. And maybe you ought to ask the Marshal about Konzen's mother, hey?"

His mother...and Kanzeon _had_ said Konzen took after her greatly.... "Right!" he cried, jumping down from the throne with a grin. "And thanks!"

He nodded quickly at Jiroushin before he turned and dashed for the door, and...that was odd. When had the god grown a beard?

"Jiroushin," Goku heard as he made a break for it.

"Er, yes?"

"Your tendrils are showing."

"Oh, dear."

By then Goku was pelting down the hall towards the Marshal's apartments, grinning fiercely at the world.

***

"Really, Bosatsu," Jiroushin chided, running a hand over his now-smooth chin for good measure. "You shouldn't antagonize your nephew so. He's only trying to be a credit to his family."

"Ha! _One_ side of his family, anyway. Things that don't change are boring," Kanzeon said, eyes narrowing as se stared intently after Goku. "A Konzen that doesn't change...now, that's just a waste."

Dropping hir cheek down onto hir fist with a huff, se shot a challenging glance at Jiroushin, who prudently said nothing. After a moment, hir scowl began to more closely resemble a pout.

"You know, he would be _so_ much easier to live with if he weren't so uptight about the whole turning-into-a-monster thing when he loses control. Do you think making him human for a while would help?"

"If you say so, Bosatsu," Jiroushin said wearily, rubbing his chin again.

Some days, it just didn't pay to rise from the deep.


End file.
